From a source on the Atlas model railroad company forum-

"The former D&M roundhouse in Tawas, Michigan was torn down (believe it was Tuesday, this week). I think a wake ought to be held for anybody interested in the D&M and/or just railroading in Michigan. What a waste.

Reportedly the building was full of artifacts that were all destroyed too...things like railroad lanterns marked D&M, and a host of other neat items."

Word also is that the Ann Arbor RR roundhouse in the Elberta is biting the dust.

I'll miss that D&M roundhouse with its little candles in the windows during the winter and the old mural proclaiming it was the home of the D&M which was painted over a few years ago.

And for you wonder what we are speaking of, here is a link of the interior. Note the wonderful little objects laying around inside. I wonder if they were destroyed.

http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Stations/CountyStations/IoscoStations/EastTawasMI-DMRoundhouse.htm
The deed has been done.


http://www.iosconews.com/articles/2006/10/17/news/news01.txt

Good grief! Is that an English passenger car in there- possibly left over from the Flying Scotsman tour? Wonder what happened to that as well?

Joshua

Since you can't put a diesel in a dumpster, I would assume whoever owned that also cleaned out all the goodies.

SRI has the deisel along with several other peices of equipment. I have a ton of recent interior shots I can post later. It is a shame that the place is gone, and I am sure alot of the stuff went with it.

There were a few MOW vehicles, and a giant wheel lathe inside, along with the RPO and British coaches. I beleive the RPO and coaches were removed. I dont think anything else was (though I could be wrong.



The Elberta roundhouse is gone too. Called a relative up there a few minutes ago, and he checked it out.

Elberta coaling tower should be going next week. Not sure about the docks/fuel storage tanks.



Both places were destroyed to make room for development. The latest plans I have seen have a strip mall sitting on the D&M site, and the elberta site is rumored to become a cookie cutter condo community.

Like I said, What a shame.

As one who has long believed historic RR equipment should be sheltered in some of the buildings from which it once worked, these two demolitions are very sad, but not surprising. For over 20 years, I've mostly heard "it can't be done" excuses from within our own preservation community, while expensive plans were developed for new, non-historic structures like MORT in Sacramento, and others. When Wisconsin Central took over the old Soo Line, it had something like 11 roundhouses on the property; I think there are only two left, with part of the main Soo facility in Minneapolis also still standing last I knew. At least a couple more roundhouses fall every year, with scarcely a mention.

If roundhouses are saved, they are usually developed into something they never were by persons with little interest in their history, such as the office building in Kansas City. Evanston plans something similar, and they're hanging airplanes in Spencer's backshop. Some of this comes from the historic preservation mantra "every old house cannot become an old house museum". That makes sense, of course, for mundane, lookalike mill buildings, factories and warehouses, but railroad roundhouses are unique and rare and there are hundreds of locomotives rusting away out in the open that could use a better home. Restoring a roundhouse as a roundhouse is usually less costly than adaptive reuse as offices or housing.

The loss of the Tawas facility is especially sad, as it looked to be in good shape before demolition.

very sad indeed. This roundhouse looked to be in excellent condition inside and out. I know we can't save everything, but why not those items in such good condition?

Though most are now gone, trainsheds could have become an effective equipment shelter, had they been saved. By covering over the smoke vents with glass to become skylights, good protection from the weather would be obtained. Witness this 1939 shot of a Katy Pacific at Kansas City, where the Union Station has now become a museum, with some RR equipment. Alas, the trainsheds were torn down some time ago..

http://abpr.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi?f ... mkt413.jpg

If someone wants to build residential structures on the site, doesn't the environmental quality of the soil/site have to be a certain standard? Roundhouses aren't clean places.